Raising the Stakes
by ArdentProgressive
Summary: Things seem to have been improving in Gotham since the Batman appeared. How will the mob react? A lead-up to The Dark Knight.
1. Prologue

It was no secret that Gotham City was a criminal's haven. Pickpockets, stalkers, drug dealers, serial killers, gang hitmen, rapists…the list of unsavory characters that prowled Gotham's streets went on.

It was also no secret that the Gotham City Police Department was incredibly corrupt, with cops at all levels of the department routinely accepting bribes, cutting deals, and otherwise helping the mob. Gotham had been this way for years; the corruption and crime was so rampant and ran so deep within the city's institutions that most of Gotham's citizens had accepted it, even growing accustomed to it.

But not everyone. A certain billionaire had decided to take action, to return the city to a time when it was safe to walk the streets. During the day, Bruce Wayne was the life of the party, a playboy who would stop at nothing to get the best seat in the house, the hottest girls in town, and the nicest car in the city. At night, he was a masked vigilante who made the scum of Gotham afraid to go out after dusk.

Only a select few people knew the Batman's true identity: the loyal, good-humored butler Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce's guardian and mentor ever since Bruce witnessed the brutal murder of his parents; Lucius Fox, the caretaker of Wayne Enterprises, which was not just the Wayne family's fortune but the economic backbone of Gotham City; and Rachel Dawes, Assistant District Attorney and Bruce's best friend since childhood. These were the people the Batman knew he could trust with his identity.

But there were others who were willing to stand up in the face of sleaze and misdeeds. Among these were Lieutenant Jim Gordon, sometimes referred to as the last good cop in Gotham, and head of the Major Crimes Unit at GCPD. A lot of citizens were also placing their hopes for a better future on a candidate for District Attorney, Assistant D. A. Harvey Dent, who was fondly nicknamed Gotham's "White Knight" by his admirers.

These three men in particular had decided to act against the mob lords of Gotham City, chief among them Salvatore Maroni, the new head of Carmine Falconi's crime family. Ever since Falconi had been driven mad by Dr. Jonathan Crane, the "Scarecrow" who had nearly destroyed Gotham in a terrorist attack on Gotham but was stopped in time by the Batman, the family had been leaderless, lacking direction. Compounding this predicament were the seemingly never-ending wars with rival mob families. A lot of blood was shed in these wars.

Then Maroni stepped in, proposing that the various mobs of Gotham stop infighting and instead band together. As a multinational conglomerate of a mob, the law would be powerless to stop them. They could have their way, any day of the week.

Unless, of course, people outside the law had something to say about it. People like the Batman. The mob had to be careful, because they knew the Batman operated at night. So they held their meetings in the daytime.

It didn't help Maroni's mob that a lot of people didn't seem to be afraid of them anymore. Victims were scarred and traumatized, sure, but they weren't _afraid_. The Batman had been responsible for this. If people had lost faith in their legal institutions, they hadn't lost faith in their self-appointed guardian. '

Well, not yet, anyway.


	2. 1 Jackson Bank & Co

It was a typically slow day at the Gotham branch of Jackson Bank & Co. Stockbrokers, bond traders, and others worked dull hours at the bank which had become one of the major financial institutions in Gotham. Even though it was fairly boring work, the handsome paycheck was worth it to broker Alan Johnston.

A 34-year old native of Denver, CO, Johnston had just recently transferred to Gotham, in spite of his wife's reluctance to move. Gotham was dangerous, she had said, and had nearly been destroyed in a terrorist attack. People got mugged (or worse) every day on their way to work. It would be foolhardy and unsafe to live in Gotham.

Nevertheless, Johnston had managed to convince his wife that the benefits of moving to Gotham outweighed the cons. The job he received at this branch of Jackson was much better-paying than the previous one he had had in Denver. There were some great schools in Gotham, so their 4-year old daughter would be in good hands education-wise when the time came for her to start school. And if they ever encountered a criminal, Johnston-who was a black belt in karate and had been a star quarterback on his college football team-could "take him down," as he put it to his wife.

Johnston had been fondly gazing at photos of his wife and daughter when the explosion occurred. Even though it was on the other side of the building, it knocked him and his co-workers off their feet

.

"Alright everybody-hands up, heads down!! Nobody make a move! Hands up, heads down!!!"

The voice belonged to an armed man wearing a clown mask. Johnston, shocked and disoriented but not completely scared, slowly did as he was told, as did his co-workers.

A second explosion knocked everyone in the room-including the masked gunman-to the ground. Two more armed thugs with clown masks on rushed into the room.

"Don't mind us we're just making a few withdrawals here!!" With that, one of the thugs grabbed the arm of one of Johnston's female co-workers.

"Anyone who tries to be a hero and this bitch gets it in the head!" he shouted. At this point, Johnston almost let his irrational, overconfident side take over. But he wisely decided to refrain from rash action.

"This is a lot of money. This Joker guy must be one cocky mother"-the thug's words were cut short by a gunshot to the head from the other standing gunman. Before the freed female hostage could even scream, she, too, dropped dead from bullet wounds.

The gunman who had been knocked down by the second explosion shouted, "What the hell man?! We weren't actually gonna kill anyon"-he was likewise silenced by a bullet.

At this, Johnston became enraged and summoned the courage to stand up and verbally assault the last masked gunman."You twisted asshole! What did she do to you? And why are you killing your friends? You scum, you lowlife! Who do you think you are?"

The remaining thug turned and slowly advanced on Johnston,

before he was breathing in his face.

"I know who _I_ am. The..._question_ is…" He lifted his clown mask. "Who are _you_?"

At that moment, Alan Johnston lost all resolve, all nerve, and was utterly paralyzed with fear. What confronted him was a face that was horrific beyond description. It was painted unevenly white, except for the red that outlined two _massive_ scars that ran almost from ear to ear. The disfigured man's hair was dirty blonde with a greenish tinge to him. _Everything_ about the monster that confronted Johnston was dirty.

"Ah, you like my smile? Why aren't_ you_ smiling, buddy?"

The monster grinned. To Johnston, it seemed more like a sneer.

"Forgotten how to smile, have we?"He took out a knife and, within an instant, had the knife in Johnston's mouth.

Johnston shuddered, screaming with fear inside. _This can't be happening_, he thought, but this nightmare was all too real.

"Here…let me help you… _remember_."


	3. The Good Cop

The Gotham City Police Department had gotten a lot of bad press recently. They had been heavily criticized for their failure to stop Dr. Jonathan Crane's terrorist attack on the city, which had claimed a still undetermined number of lives in the city's most crime-ridden area, the island known as the Narrows. Subsequent investigations by the Assistant District Attorney for Internal Affairs had uncovered a massive amount of corruption, incompetence, and wrongdoing in the Department, and had soured relations between the office of the D. A. and the GCPD. The department desperately needed something-or someone-to raise the morale of its members.

Jim Gordon was an unlikely candidate for this job. Quiet, reserved, but honest and loyal, he had been a Sergeant in the GCPD when Crane's attack had occurred. But his clean record of service, his bravery in helping to stop the attack, and his good relationship with GCPD Commissioner Loeb had made him, in the eyes of department bureaucrats, the perfect choice to head the new Major Crimes Unit at the department.

Gordon did, however, have one secret that threatened not just his tenure at MCU, but his entire career. He worked with the masked vigilante known as the Batman. Official policy for the department was to arrest this mysterious masked man on sight. The problem was, if you spotted the Batman, it would happen so fast that you would begin to doubt your own eyes, questioning if you had really seen him. You would look up, and the Batman had vanished, utterly and completely.

Nevertheless, Lieutenant Gordon had no choice but to work with the Batman. The vigilante had more integrity-and intelligence-than the rest of the department combined, it seemed. And in Gotham, there were few Gordon could trust to help him break up the city's criminal organizations. Very few.

Gordon stood quietly by the light at the top of MCU, waiting for the one man he could trust to help him defend Gotham. He didn't have to wait for long; the seasoned cop was temporarily startled when he turned around to see the Batman standing in front of him.

"We have no new information about the Joker," Gordon said. The Batman showed no signs of emotion. "We have, however, identified another one of the mob's deposits using marked bills."

"That's three this week," replied the Batman. He then gave Gordon something. It was a blurry photograph from a security camera.

"What is this?" asked Gordon.

"Security footage from Jackson Bank and Co., from before the Joker's attack. It shows an associate of Sal Maroni. Recognize him?"

Gordon studied the photograph carefully, and then nodded. "That's James Burscini. We identified him a year ago as a member of the Falconi crime family."

"I'll leave the rest to you. Take it down to MCU."

Gordon looked up. The Batman was gone.


End file.
